Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera Review – Clearer and Wider Selfies

The Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera is one among the three selfie centric devices launched by Asus and it is a brilliant move by Asus. If you are a selfie lover and thinking about getting an affordable smartphone then, without doubt, this one should be there on your list or even better, go ahead and buy one. I wish I could finish off this review with that sentence but, it will be a bummer if I don’t talk a bit more about this perfect smartphone in this price segment. Truth to be told, I was never impressed by an Asus device like I am with the new Zenfone 4 Series. So far, I have tested both Zenfone 4 Selfie and Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera, the former one offers stellar battery and great pictures but, the latter one is even better when it comes to selfie and performance. If you are looking for better performance, the Zenfone 4 Selfie Pro would be a great choice. Keeping those aside, let’s get started with our Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera Review.

Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera – What’s in the box

Zenfone 4 Selfie DC

Micro USB cable

SIM ejector tool

USB power adaptor

Documentation

Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera – Design

The Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera comes with the usual Asus design and it was disappointing for me. I find it bit old school especially after seeing all those edge to edge display devices. I started using the device with a preconceived notion of not liking it and boy! I realized I am wrong after spending a couple of hours with the device.

For those who are interested in numbers; the Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera is 7.85mm thick, 76.2mm wide and 155.6mm long. The device weighs just 144g and trust me! It is very lightweight.

On the front, Asus kept the old capacitive touch navigation buttons (back, home and recent apps). The fingerprint sensor is incorporated into the home button. On the top, there are a couple of sensors along with the dual front camera (20MP + 8MP) and the flash. On the back, the ASUS branding, primary camera along with the flash. On the bottom, speaker grill and USB connector for transfer/charging. On the top, there is a mic and a 3.5mm headphone audio jack.

There is nothing new about the design, Yes! It is just metallic unibody finish, not metal. But, I got to agree that the device feels solid and finish is good. Since it is a review unit, I have used the device without the case and I find that the back panel is getting hairline scratches over the course of time.

Asus Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera – Performance and Software

The Zenfone 4 Selfie DC has a slightly upgraded version of the Zenfone 4 Selfie and it is not only in the camera department but also in the specs. Though the processor and graphics, Snapdragon 430 and Adreno 505, remains the same, the RAM is 4GB instead of 3GB and the internal memory is 64GB instead of the 32GB in the Zenfone 4 Selfie.

I tried out games like MMX Hill Dash, NFS No Limits and even subway surfer to test the phone performance. There is no jerk even during NFS gaming but, it takes a while to load the game because of the processor. Though the 720p screen does a great job in power saving isn’t it too less pixel for a phone of this price segment? I think Yes.

The extra 1GB of RAM does make a difference, especially while multitasking and gaming. The phone comes loaded with the latest Android 7.1 Nougat with ZenUI on top of it. Depending on the user, the ZenUI can be a good or bad thing. I love the stock Android experience over the colorful skins the phone manufacturers put in.

The ZenUI comes with some features that I would like to talk about. First, there are a launcher and theme options which lets you customize the look and feel of the home screen. There is an inbuilt security feature called ZenUI Safeguard. For those who love to set up motion gestures, the ZenUI has an option called ZenMotion.

My favorite part of the software, probably can be yours too, is the selfie master. This app can do wonders and make you even better than how you look in real. An in-depth review of this option will be covered in the camera session below. The Game Genie is a genius option which lets you capture the gaming videos and more. The Audio Wizard option can help you tweak your device audio output in the best possible way. For those who love bookmarking while browsing online, the PageMaker option lets you save articles, excluding the ads, and let you read it in a clutter-free later in time.

ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera – Camera

Now the main highlight of the device, the Camera. Let’s start with the selfie camera.

The selfie camera in Zenfone 4 Selfie was great. I loved the way, using software, the camera adds bokeh effects to your selfies. The selfie camera on Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera is fantastic and it can do click some great photos.

The primary camera on the front is a 20MP sensor with F2.0 aperture and has a LED flash. The Asus Selfie master technology is applied on to boost the image look and feel. The camera also comes with auto mode and HDR for low light shooting. I love applying filters and this camera out supports 9 filters. The second camera on the front is an 8MP shooter and is a wide-angle lens. The camera supports up to 200% wider views to incorporate a large group of people in your selfie.

I have tested it in many lighting conditions and the images look sharp and clear. The bokeh effect does the job decently and still has some tweaking to be done. Asus might release a software update to address this issue.

The rear camera is a 16MP sensor with f2.0 aperture. There are lot more features like; portrait mode, pro mode for 32 seconds long exposure, super-resolution 64MP photos and time-lapse. There is no 2K/4K recording supported but, you can shoot full HD videos at 30fps. The rear camera is also equipped with Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) for shake-free videography.

ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera – Battery

Like the lower variant Zenfone 4 Selfie, the Snapdragon 430 has done a great job in the battery management. There is no fast charging except in the Pro variant of the Zenfone 4 Selfie. The lack of fast charging means it will take you 3 hours to completely charge your device and exactly 1.5hrs to charge it up to 50%.

On my testing, which includes gaming, social media updates, checking email, WhatsApp messaging, the phone managed to give me 5-5.30 hours of screen time. This is a great number considering the phone was always connected to 4G or Wi-Fi and the smaller 3000 mAh battery.

To Conclude

Honestly, until now, Asus products never made me feel WOW! This was mainly because of their poor design and the price tag. This is the first Asus device which is aptly priced for the market and the camera output, mainly video from both rear and front camera, also selfies really impressed me. I love clicking selfies with the bokeh effect ON. The rear camera is also a great performer and it has EIS to take your videography to the next level.

I am happy with the performance of the device as well. But, if you are looking for a reliable and yet powerful smartphone then Moto G5S Plus will be a great choice. The Camera, the selfie camera on Zenfone 4 Selfie Dual Camera is the best in the segment. Wish they could have included fast charging but, the device holds enough power to take you through the day. Overall, I am really happy with the device and it is a great phone to consider.